Three Reasons Why: Vandy won its second in a row
Derek Mason has won two straight games for the first time in his head coaching career. Vandy (4-4) beat crosstown foe Tennessee State 35-17, Saturday night on Homecoming. TSU (5-2) came into the game hoping for an upset and looked like a realistic threat to the Commodores early on. The Tigers scored on a 93-yard […]
Derek Mason has won two straight games for the first time in his head coaching career. Vandy (4-4) beat crosstown foe Tennessee State 35-17, Saturday night on Homecoming.
TSU (5-2) came into the game hoping for an upset and looked like a realistic threat to the Commodores early on. The Tigers scored on a 93-yard touchdown pass on the second play of the game to take a 7-0 lead. TSU lead for most of the fist half, but the Dores scored 21 unanswered points to take the victory.
Here are three reasons why Vanderbilt won its second game in a row.
The Vandy running game
Ralph Webb, Khari Blasingham, Darius Sims, it didn't matter who it was… Vandy dominated TSU's defense in the run game. The Commodores ran for 358 yards and four scores, while averaging 8.5 yards per carry.
Webb (125) and Blasingame (100) became the first Vanderbilt running backs to both rush for over 100-yards in the same game since 2012 against Presbyterian. Blasingham set career highs for rushing yards and touchdowns (3) in one game.
Darius Sims got involved early and finished with 50 yards on five carries. Coach Mason said Tuesday, during his press conference, he wanted Sims to be involved on offense. It worked. Everything worked for Andy Ludwig's offense when the ball was on the ground.
Sherfield scored on his only run of the night, from 14 yards out. Josh Crawford ran hard and finished with 49 yards on his six touches.
Second half defense
TSU's offense was moving the ball up and down the field against Vanderbilt in the first half. QB Ronald Butler and WR Patrick Smith hooked up for two scores in the first quarter, including the 93-yarder early on. The Tigers racked up 289 yards in the first half, and Vandy wasn't safe with its 21-17 lead.
The second half was different. TSU was shut out of the scoring column for the rest of the game. Only 121 total yards were given up by Vandy's defense in the second half.
The biggest play of the night came when Ryan White forced a fumble on Butler to end a scoring threat. TSU, trailing 28-17 early in the fourth quarter, had crept deep into scoring territory. White separated the football from Butler on a first down run. Vandy recovered and put the game on ice with the Sherfield TD run.
No mistakes
The Commodores were clean in the turnover column for the second straight game. This is how Vandy will continue to win games. Quarterback Kyle Shurmur wasn't spectacular, but he took care of the football and put his pass catchers in position to make plays. The sophomore threw for 143 yards and threw a TD to Jared Pinkney. The tight end proved to be Shurmur's favorite target Saturday, finishing with a team high 50 receiving yards.
Vandy's defense forced two turnovers and both came in areas where TSU was approaching scoring position. McGaster's interception was a miscommunication between the QB and WR, but he was there to make the play. We've already discussed how big the White forced fumble was. And, Derek Mason's team was pretty disciplined committing only five penalties.
